Joseph Caillaux

Joseph Caillaux (30 March 1863-22 November 1944) was Prime Minister of France from 27 June 1911 to 11 January 1912, succeeding Ernest Monis and preceding Raymond Poincare. He was a member of the Radical Party of France.

Biography
Joseph Caillaux entered the French civil service in 1988 as an inspector of finance, and he served as Finance Minister from 1898 to 1902, 1906 to 1909, 1911 to 1914, 1925, 1926, and 1935. Caillaux supported the introduction of the unpopular progressive income tax before World War I; originally right-wing, he joined the Radical Party of France and became their dominant personality after the defection of Aristide Briand in 1911. Alarmed by his inclination to invite the SFIO with the Radicals, the editor of the right-wing newspaper Le Figaro published incriminating letters he had written to his wife before they were married. To prevent the publication of further secrets, his wife shot the editor in March 1914. Caillaux's aspirations to become Prime Minister again were finished, but he was a member of the Senate from 1925. He died in 1944 at the age of 81.